


Keeping Score

by TheTwins



Category: GOT7
Genre: Fighting, M/M, Pirate AU, Pirate!Jaebum, Pirate!Jinyoung, Swearing, Take JJP's relationship as you will ;), Tension, comedy?, deserted island, implied yugbam, not much fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-23 05:50:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTwins/pseuds/TheTwins
Summary: Jaebum and Jinyoung have been very competitive since their early childhoods. Therefore, it wasn't surprising that both became rivals. Pirate captain rivals that is. However, their crew gets annoyed about their constant bickering over who should be captain and threw them both off board. They wake up on opposite sides of the same deserted island. What will happen next?





	1. Getting Started

Im Jaebum and Park Jinyoung had been rivals practically since birth. At the tender age of four, when they had met on the busy streets of Liverpool in front of a bakery, Jinyoung had haughtily boasted that his cake pop tasted much better than whatever flavor the other boy chose. He hadn’t meant for the tone of superiority to come out, in fact, he had just wanted to talk to the other boy, who had surprisingly dark eyes and a carefree aura that interested him, and he’d thought it tactful to mention similarities and differences.

But the words had come out of his mouth, and the boy had glared at him until he averted his eyes to the side. In that split second that Jinyoung let his guard down, Jaebum stole the cake pop from those sweet little hands and successfully stuffed it in his mouth. The poor child just stared at his dessert being crushed into chunks of frosting and cake for a second before he burst out crying. Since then, no meeting between the two ended without some sort of fight.

At school, they were always vying for the number one spot. In mathematics. In history. In everything else. One day, it would be Jinyoung, and the next, Jaebum.

So it didn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone who knew them when, fifteen years after their first fateful meeting, they were fighting for the title of captain on the same pirate ship.

“Can you guys like cut it out?” Jackson was watching the tense exchange from the main mast, his arms crossed over his chest as he rolled his eyes. “This is the thirtieth time.”

“Is it really?” Youngjae frowned as he hopped down from the ropes.

“No, it’s actually the forty-second.” Bambam broke out laughing from where he was sitting at the stairs and Yugyeom joined in. Mark had just come up from the hold and was about to shush them, but it was too late.

Poor Youngjae froze on the spot as Jaebum turned to him, his gaze fiery. “Youngjae.”

“Yes?”

Mark sighed and sat next to Jackson at the main mast. He’d heard Jaebum ask the same question four times already, once for each member of the crew. This would make the fifth. “Who do  _ you _ think should be captain, hm? Me or Jinyoung?”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s obviously me.”

Jaebum glared at Jinyoung, and their newest recruit stammered, eyes flickering between the two men at the helm, both wearing a captain’s hat atop their head and both staring at him expectantly, a hand on the hilt of the sword at their side. “I-” he gulped, “I don’t know?”

Before Jinyoung could intimidate the ex-sailor any more, Mark cut in. “Don’t worry, Youngjae. Jackson said neither of them, Yugyeom said Jaebum because he’s taller, Bambam said Jinyoung just to make it even, and I said Jackson.”

Jackson chuckled and got back to rigging the sails, calling over his shoulder, “They’re not going to make you walk the plank if you don’t know, hell, it’s only been a week.”

“Who knows?” Bambam jabbed Yugyeom in the side with a knowing grin and Jaebum’s glare turned to them.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing!”

The two scurried to their feet, glancing at each other and laughing as they made their way up to the bird’s nest.

Jaebum only grumbled, walking down to the deck. “Youngjae, help Jackson with the ropes, will you?”

“No, go check the sails.” Jinyoung walked down, too.

“I'll do both?” Youngjae said.

“Sails first.”

“No, ropes. Trust me.”

The argument was clearly not going to end anytime soon. Jaebum and Jinyoung glared at each other, and Mark made for below deck. If the seas were benevolent, those two might settle their disputes before they died. If not, it wasn’t his problem.

 

~

 

Or so he thought. 

Hands shoved in his pockets, Mark glared at the empty crates in front of him in the hold, as if he could make rations appear out of thin air. As the oldest and the only one with any sort of self-preservation experience, as in cooking, he was in charge of making sure they didn’t all get scurvy. But it got exponentially more difficult when he had nothing to work with. And he had nothing to work with.

That was how Jackson found him, when the other had meandered down to the hold to avoid hearing Jaebum and Jinyoung argue over their “score.”

“It’s fifteen hundred and one to fifteen hundred and two.”

“I have fifteen hundred and two.”

“No, _ I _ do.”

“Well the score doesn’t  _ really  _ matter anyways. We both know I-”

The other pirate tapped Mark on the shoulder, “Hello? Anyone there?”

Mark only continued to glare and Jackson finally followed his line of sight, uttering a worried, “Ah.” Slowly, he turned Mark around by the shoulders to face away from the crates, cracking his signature grin, “Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll figure something out. Isn’t the first time, after all.”

Usually, that would be enough. The man had a sort of aura around him, bright and hopeful, that lifted everyone else along, not to mention that Mark and him were quite close, having joined the ship around the same time, Jackson as an ex-soldier and Mark as a city boy running from home. But it was the last time, the final straw. Mark glared at Jackson, a murderous gaze across his features. “I had to cook a shoe last time, Jackson. A shoe!”

The other man shrugged his shoulders sheepishly. “We still have those. Could probably do it again. Tasted like shit though.”

“It tasted worse than shit.” 

They both looked up. The hatch slammed shut and Bambam casually made his way down the stairs, “And that thing with the water and just  _ ew _ .” 

Jackson rolled his eyes before turning back to Mark and pulling him into a bear hug, “He doesn’t mean it. We could always try cannibalism. Eat the weakest one first, you know?”

“Haha, you’re funny, Jackson.” Bambam made his way over to the crates, lifting one into the air to check beneath it before dropping it back down with a thunk. “There’s really nothing, huh?”

Mark shook his head silently. Jaebum was supposed to buy the rations at port last time, but Jinyoung had had their money. And he remembered that Jinyoung ended up coming back first with some compass or whatnot, and Jaebum had to be dragged back on deck by Yugyeom because he was drunk. But he’d assumed-

“What’s going on here?”

The rest of the crew had joined them in the hold, Jaebum in front.

Jackson voiced Mark’s thoughts for him: “We assumed one of you bought rations last time we went to port. But,” he glanced at the empty crates, “I guess not.”

The crew turned to Jaebum expectantly and Jinyoung seemed to smirk, muttering the words “fifteen hundred and three” under his breath.

But their first captain retorted, “I couldn’t buy anything. Jinyoung wouldn’t give me the money.”

“You didn’t ask nicely,” the other captain shrugged.

A familiar red tint climbed up Jaebum’s neck to his ears. “I don’t have-”

Bambam winced, Jackson frowned, and Yugyeom bit his lip. Youngjae only looked confused, but he didn’t know what was going to happen next. The anger would overtake Jaebum and soon he and Jinyoung would be sparring verbally or in an actual swordfight, leaving a few more broken blanks and whatnot on top of the empty crates.

But before that could happen, Mark slammed his knife into the ship hull. 

“Stop.”

Everyone stopped. “Jinyoung, stop provoking Jaebum. Jaebum, stop clenching your fists. We split power between you two to avoid conflicts, not create them. Everyone go back on deck and I’ll make dinner. Now.”

Jinyoung opened his mouth to protest but Mark twisted the knife in the wood. “ _ Now. _ ” 

They filed back up to the deck one by one, Jinyoung and Jaebum refusing to even look at the other as they murmured curses under their breath and clambered up. The others followed them, Jackson giving Mark a side-hug and reassurance that they would be fine before he finally went up last, leaving Mark alone again in the hold.

Calmly, he plucked the knife from the wood and slipped it back into its sheath. The blood was pounding steadily in his head and he could finally hear his thoughts. Dinner could be something as meager as tenth of the saltine crackers kept as emergency supply in the captain’s quarters. Hopefully, that would last them a good while without much extra effort. It was making sure that this never happened again that required drastic measures.


	2. Camera and...Action!

The next day, Jaebum was calculating their heading when out of the corner of his eye, he saw Bambam run onto deck, grab Yugyeom by his shirt collar, and yank his best friend up to the crow’s nest. It wasn’t too unusual for them, being as close as they were and as prone to excitement.

He wondered what they were up to this time. Hopefully not something serious.

Looking above his head, he could barely make out frantic hand gestures on Bambam’s part and vigorous nodding along on Yugyeom’s. Last time this had happened, Jinyoung had guessed that there were planning to prank Jackson while he slept, and he had been correct. The score had evened out to twelve-hundred fifty-four for both of them, . 

Jaebum looked around and noted with satisfaction that the other man wasn’t on deck. As long as Jinyoung didn’t get another point, he didn’t care if Bambam and Yugyeom were plotting to prank Jackson again or not.

All in all, it seemed like it would be a good day. The sun was out, gusts of wind were pushing them along, and humming easily, the captain strode over to the ropes. 

 

~

 

In the crow’s nest, Bambam was still half-whispering, half-yelling. “And then you go ‘bam!’, got it?”

Yugyeom half-yelled back as well, the wind whipping through his hair and carrying his words away, “Why me?”

“Who else?!”

“What about Jackson?”

Bambam leaned in so that their foreheads touched, a cup cupped around his ear, “What?!”

“I said, Jackson! What about him?” 

Bambam must have heard him clearly this time, because he cracked a grin, “Who do you think gets to deal with Jinyoung?”

 

~

 

Jinyoung was tapping his foot on the board. He stared suspiciously at Jackson, who was stubbornly refusing to budge from the kitchen door. “What are you doing?”

“Mark said he doesn’t need help.”

“Judging by the lack of rations, I’m sure he needs all the help he can get.”

The captain took a step forward, but Jackson still wouldn’t move. “He said not to disturb him,” he apologized to Jinyoung, “told me to make _ sure _ no one disturbs him.”

“Well, I’m not just anyone.” Jinyoung shifted the right. Jackson mirrored him. He shifted to the left. And again. The man finally huffed, crossing his arms over his chest, “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.” Jackson beamed.

Jinyoung gave him a wary glance but turned away, heading back up the stairs. On his way out to the helm, he noticed Bambam and Yugyeom conspiring at the crow’s nest. And on deck, Youngjae was nowhere to be found. 

 

~

 

Instead, Youngjae was inventorying the cannonballs in the hold when someone cleared their throat behind him.

Jumping slightly, the man spun around. “Jinyoung!”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“Um,” he looked around to see if Jaebum had also come down, but only finding empty crates, handed his list to Jinyoung instead. “I guess you came for this? I finished counting the cannonballs. Was going to try measure out the gunpowder after, but…”

“That’s alright.” Jinyoung took the paper and tucked it into a pocket. “I came here to ask you about something else. Say, you wouldn’t know anything about what Yugyeom and Bambam are discussing up at the crow’s nest would you? Talk to Mark lately? See anyone speaking to someone else in private or, I don’t know, Jackson not being himself?”

The ex-sailor furrowed his brows, “No, can’t think of anything like that. Why?”

“Oh, nothing, just wondering if there was some special occasion,” Jinyoung lied, smiling easily and pointing Youngjae to some other task before making his way back up to the deck. Maybe something was up. Maybe nothing was. But he remembered the last time he’d guessed correctly and Jaebum had refused to acknowledge it. 

Grinning, Jinyoung’s gaze fell on the other captain tying down ropes for the main mast. He would prove Jaebum wrong again and then the man would have to recognize his inevitable defeat. It would only be a matter of time.

 

~

 

Little did Jinyoung know, his chance would come about in a little under a day. Late that night, as Youngjae rolled into his hammock alone in the crew’s quarters, falling asleep within the minute as Mark had predicted, Yugyeom and Bambam paced the deck above him.

“Remember, you go ‘bam!’, yeah?”

Yugyeom nodded, “Got it. It’s probably a good thing we left Youngjae out of this.”

“Yeah. I doubt he would’ve been able to lie to Jinyoung’s face. Much better this way, might even throw Shadow King off his game for a bit.”

“Hopefully.”

Bambam grinned, stopping in front of the main mast. “Can’t believe we’re leaving the rest up to you and Jackson. Well, Mark’s orders. I’m going to go up now, remember to-”

“Go ‘bam!’” Yugyeom punched the air and they both laughed. “I got it, I got it.”

 

~

 

Below deck in the mess hall, Mark, Jackson, and Jinyoung were playing cards when they heard the emergency bell. The game was hearts and Jackson was complaining that he was the only one with points.

“Just both of you wait, I’m going to get all twenty-six points and shoot the moon and then _ I’ll _ be first with zero points and both of  _ you _ will have twenty-six.”

Jinyoung kept his poker face, “Go ahead and try.”

“He can’t.”

“Oh,” Jinyoung’s eyes narrowed as he turned to Mark, the connections coming together in his mind, “ _ You _ have the higher clovers, so he can’t shoot the moon.”

Mark opened his mouth to retort when the distinctive sound of a bell tolling echoed above them. Immediately, all three of them were out of their seats, swords and daggers drawn. “Emergency-” Jinyoung hissed and the other two nodded. Quickly, the captain assumed his place in front of the trio as they headed for the stairs. 

 

~

 

The bell tolling loudly nearby, Yugyeom bit his lip and pressed his ear to the side of the captain’s quarters. Jaebum had been inside, calculating a heading or something similar, but the scritch scratch of pen against paper stopped abruptly with the first toll. It wouldn’t take him long to get moving.

Yugyeom heard the rustle of papers as Jaebum shoved something in the closet and then a familiar metallic swish as he drew his sword. Click clack. Click clack. The captain was striding to the door. 

Swallowing audibly, Yugyeom ignored the blood rushing through his head and tensed his muscles, waiting for his cue.

It came with the door, creaking open slowly at first and then swinging slightly as Jaebum walked out and-

Bam!

 

~

 

Stopping in front of the hatch to the deck, Jinyoung didn’t even hear the thud above him. Instead, he turned to Mark and Jackson, who were lagging behind slightly. “There’s no time, hurry!”

“Alright, let’s go.” 

He turned around, not noticing the quick nod of approval that Mark gave Jackson behind his back. Neither did he notice the way Mark moved slightly to the back as Jackson closed the distance between him and the captain. Jinyoung took one step, two steps, and reached out a hand for the hatch before all of a sudden, his vision blacked out and he fell into Jackson’s waiting arms.

 

~

 

Ten minutes later, the majority of the crew had gathered on deck, with Yugyeom and Bambam sitting next to an unconscious Jaebum, Jackson carrying Jinyoung on his back, and Mark pacing with a map and compass in hand. The pirates formed a circle of sorts, and if anyone had simply walked in on them without context, it would have looked like some pagan ritual or a funeral of sorts. In fact, Youngjae had run up half asleep at the thirtieth toll of the bell and almost screamed when he saw them.

“They’re dead, oh my God, they’re dead. Did you kill them? Is this a mutiny? Oh my-”

Yugyeom and Bambam both instinctively leaped up to cover his mouth. “Shh,” Bambam said, pulling Youngjae lower. Yugyeom leaned down to point out the rise and fall of Jaebum’s chest, explaining “They’re not dead. Jaebum might wake up with a pretty bad headache and a nice bruise though.”

Youngjae’s eyes widened. The words came out as a hushed gasp, “You knocked him out?! Won’t he kill us when he wakes up?”

“Not if we can help it,” replied Jackson, a happy grin on his face. “Mark, where are we with finding a deserted island?”

“Almost there.” Mark looked up at the stars and back down to his map and compass. “Can someone light a candle? Yugyeom, thanks. And Bambam, can you get a pen and paper? We should leave a note.”

Youngjae watched in a mix of awe and horror as the others complied, fetching items from here and there as Mark scanned the horizon through his spyglass. It was a surreal scene, the two captains lying unconscious on the deck while the members of the crew busied themselves as normal, or as close as normal got, the moonlight lighting the steps they took and casting a pale glow on the captains. Eventually, Youngjae found himself caught up in the errand-running, going down to the hold to grab a knife and then to the mess hall to look for rations.

By the time he went back up, Mark was smiling and pointing something out to Jackson with his spyglass. It was an island, coming into view at the edge of the horizon, wide and tall with a smattering of flora on top of sand and stone. “That one’s perfect.” Mark snapped the spyglass shut in one smooth motion, an aura of confidence around him almost befitting of a captain. “We’ll leave them there.”


	3. Day 1 Deal

There was a painful ringing noise in Jaebum’s head. Groaning, he squeezed his eyes shut to try and make it go away before pulling himself into a sitting position, cradling his head in his arms. Everything was still black and he refused to open his eyes.

He was sitting on sand; it had been obvious from the grains digging into his palm as he had pushed himself up and the little imprints on his skin. He could feel a gentle sea breeze on his face and smell the salt of the ocean. When the ringing subsided, he could hear the rhythmic swish of the tide as it trickled in and then back out.

Gingerly, Jaebum opened his right eye just a fraction of an inch. Bright,  _ very _ bright- he squeezed his eyes shut again for a good minute before reluctantly opening both and shielding them with his hand. Light was glimmering at the crests of waves as they broke against the sand bank, and as far as the eye could see past the beach, there was only water. Judging by the position of the sun, it was mid-morning and Jaebum was deserted on an island in the middle of nowhere.

The last thing he remembered was writing some measurement or another before hearing the emergency bell toll for the first time, pushing open the doors, and then- darkness. Grinding his teeth, Jaebum got up, flicking the sand off his pants in quick, harsh motions. Someone had knocked him out and there would be hell to pay when he found them again.

But he would have to find them first. “Goddamnit.” Jaebum scowled at the ocean before turning on his heel and marching up the beach toward the jungle. The sand was warm against his bare feet and the vines dug red marks into his skin as he pushed them roughly out of his way.

“Stupid little vines-” he grimaced as something seemed to pull him back, stopping him in his tracks. A vine had caught his cape and it wasn’t letting go. Annoyed, Jaebum turned to untangle it when something fell out of his pocket.

It was a piece of paper. Bending down, Jaebum picked it up and unfolded it, reading to himself, “Find your/Figure out who/Soon, or we won’t/M.”

He frowned and crumpled it back up, tucking it away. The writing seemed to be missing the ends of sentences, and if this was his crew’s idea of a joke -leaving him on a deserted island with a word puzzle- it wasn’t very funny.

 

~

 

Jinyoung could guess what had happened the immediate second he woke up. He remembered the emergency bell and then a blow to the back of his head. It had to be Jackson, and if Mark had been there with him, Yugyeom and Bambam were the ones who rang the bell. Lips quirking slightly, Jinyoung decided Mark had to have been the mastermind. The plan was well thought out and well executed, now if only he had seen through it before and gotten that point…

Grimacing, Jinyoung pushed himself up and brushed off the sand gingerly. Survival would come first before revenge. He had to find food, water, and shelter before he could picture the crew sitting with Jaebum on the deck of their ship and happily recounting how they knocked Jinyoung out. And of course, picture himself returning to that ship and to that spot at the helm.

First things first, clothing. They must’ve decided to drag him through the shallows, because his shirt was damp and he was no longer wearing shoes. However, he still had his captain’s hat and cape, inside which, there was a new piece of paper. 

“Interesting,” Jinyoung unfolded the paper and read out loud, “Other half/will be captain/let you back.” His eyebrows almost rose into his hairline. Did Mark really think he was going to get away with a mutiny and then brag about Jinyoung’s dire situation by offering return if he gave up his captain position? No way he would he do that, Jinyoung swore on his fifteen hundred and three points. The vines in the jungle seemed to whip at him in response as he treaded into the jungle and toward the hills, saying “do it, do it” but he ignored them. His pride was at stake.

 

~

 

Two hours later, Jinyoung had gathered several edible plants and berries in a rucksack made from his shirt and was scouting for water when he saw someone familiar.

“Jaebum?”

The shadow looked up from where it had been fashioning a spear from rock, wood, and twine. “Jinyoung? What’s going on here? Where’s your shirt?”

He walked closer cautiously, careful to make sure the man in front of him was not a ghost or other apparition of sorts. Somewhere in his heart, he was happy to see Jaebum. Probably because it meant they hadn’t actually chosen Jaebum over him as captain, he was sure. No other reason. “I thought they mutinied to make you captain -only for a second. If anything, they would have chosen me. Shirt turned into a makeshift bag. What are you doing here, too?” Jinyoung was tempted to add a point to his score, but he didn’t -out of the kindness of his heart, of course.

The other captain furrowed his brows. “I didn’t even think about how I ended up here. Someone knocked me out after the bell. What about you?”

“Same thing,” Jinyoung grimaced at the memory. “Jackson, pretty sure. Mark was the ringleader and Yugyeom and Bambam were definitely involved. It looks like they left us on opposite sides of this island.” They stood in silence for a bit, letting the knowledge of their current situation sink in, on a deserted island with no ships nearby and the elephant in the room: survival. It didn’t look very promising. Eventually, the silence grew stifling and Jinyoung shifted uncomfortably. He tried to revert to their usual dialogue, “Point to me for figuring it out first. Did they leave a note with you, too?”

“Yeah…” Jaebum’s eyes narrowed at the seemingly innocent tone of Jinyoung’s voice. He knew the man better than to trust him when he used that voice. “Why?”

“Oh, not much. Can I see it?”

“No,” Jaebum placed his hand over his pocket protectively. “You show me  _ yours _ .”

Jinyoung’s mouth turned downwards. “You first.”

“No,  _ you _ .”

“ _ No _ . You.”

They squabbled for another minute or two before Jaebum finally growled and jabbed his finger at the other. “At the same time then. Three, two, one-”

Jinyoung pulled out his note, unfolding it in his palm only to see Jaebum unveil an empty hand. Should have known better to believe Jaebum when he offered to compromise. Jinyoung scowled and crumpled up his paper. “Fine, point to you now. What does it say?”

“You’re not going to like this very much.”

“Just tell me.”

“Find your other half/Figure out who will be captain/Soon, or we won’t let you back. Signed Mark.”

He was right; it had been Mark. Must’ve been angry from the whole rations issue. Jinyoung scoffed, “That’s not hard. I beat you in our navigation course.”

Jaebum tilted his chin up. “But the principal chose  _ me _ to lead the practical demo. And I lead our ship to victory.”

“Only because I was giving orders from the back. You would have lost without me. You know you would have.”

Jaebum narrowed his eyes. His hand had unconsciously drifted toward his sword and he noticed that Jinyoung had done the same. “The score is still tied.”

“It wouldn’t be if you admitted that I beat you in the swordfight our eighth year.”

“You cheated. You can’t use a knife in a swordfight.”

“Try me.” 

There was a swish and both men drew their swords, warily eyeing the other.

“You wouldn’t dare,” Jaebum said, suddenly noticing the complicated overgrowth surrounding them. It would be a pain to fight with a sword in the compact jungle, with branches and vines at every step. A knife would be better. But Jinyoung probably already knew that.

He watched the other man carefully, legs tensed and ready to lunge forward at the first indication of movement. Slowly, Jinyoung dragged his finger along the flat half of his sword, as if thinking out loud, “I might. I would win-” Jaebum gritted his teeth. The man continued, “But the sun will set in a few hours and neither of us has food, water, or shelter. Not a consistent source at least. And beyond just surviving here, we also need to find a way to get off the island. It’s not like Mark and them are waiting just over the horizon.”

He sheathed his sword, and reluctantly, Jaebum did the same. “I say we find a stream first. I think there was one near the hill I passed by.” 

Jinyoung disagreed, “I say we set up some traps. There are definitely fowl and other small animals somewhere here.”

“No, that would take too long.”

“And no, what if there isn’t a stream? Going up the hill area could get dangerous at night.”

“The best option is to find drinkable water. You can last longer without food.”

“I refuse to. Not until you admit that I did beat you in the swordfight in eighth.”

Jaebum clenched his fingers into a fist. “No.”

“One point.”

One trivial point. Jaebum could feel the blood rushing to his face and see the veins popping at his arms. “This is life and death. Why are we still bringing up the score?!”

But they both knew why. Standing there, arms crossed and legs firmly planted into the earth, chin tilted up and eyes fiery, neither backed down.

Eventually, Jinyoung took a step away, hoisting his rucksack back to a more comfortable position over his shoulder. “How about we make this worth a thousand points? You get your half of the island and I get my half. First one off wins.” 

Jaebum thought for a second. “If I win, you acknowledge me as captain.”

“If  _ I _ win, you acknowledge  _ me _ as captain.”

Jaebum gave a curt nod.


	4. If Only

They had each gone their separate ways: Jaebum slashing past plants as he trekked uphill on his search for water, and Jinyoung foraging for more berries. At first, neither of them thought anything more of their agreement than that they would be the one to win and become captain.

Thinking nothing of Jaebum’s troubles, Jinyoung focused on his own supplies. His shirt had already been sacrificed to make a rucksack, so he definitely need a shelter of sorts at night if he didn’t want to die from the cold. Step one, materials. After he had gathered enough edible plants, Jinyoung picked a flat area in the woods and began scouting for decently large branches nearby.

The sun was going down, slowly but surely, the burning heat from the noon already replaced with a welcome warmth as Jinyoung scoured the ground, his back bent.

Birch, pine, there were several different trees clumped together in the clearing. From the ground, he had picked up at least ten sticks the width of his leg, and many more branches and twigs to shove in between. Wiping the sweat from his brow, Jinyoung dug little holes into the earth and pushed the larger sticks in, leaning them together in a sort of teepee. The branches came next. He wiggled them between the tops of the sticks, creating a mini roof with the twigs sticking out of the holes.

The result was a decent shelter. Standing with his hands on his hips, Jinyoung smirked to himself. Water? Check. Food? Check. Shelter? Check. The day wasn’t even over; he might as well start thinking about how to get off the island as well.

After all, Park Jinyoung doesn’t lose.

 

~

 

Jaebum had taken a different approach. Taking off his shirt for a while before slipping it back on, he decided shelter could wait. It wasn’t that cold.

In fact, it was quite hot. Not too careful about where he was stepping, he hurried up one hill after the other toward the sound of water. The sunlight was warm against his skin and small rivulets of sweat trickled down the side of his face. Trekking uphill only made it worse, but Jaebum gritted his teeth and kept going.

He swore under his breath when he stepped on an especially pointy pebble, and only kept moving forward with the promise of water a faint garble ahead of him. As he slashed past branches in his way and pushed himself uphill, the garble grew louder into a rumble. He could almost taste the coolness on his tongue as he sprinted the last few steps, shoving a branch up and ducking under to stop in front of the stream.

“Ah.” The breath left his mouth as a mix of relief and awe. Quickly kneeling down on the riverbank, not even caring if his pants were getting dirty, Jaebum cupped water in his hands and brought it to his mouth, drinking greedily.

The water was cooler than he had imagined. Gulping down the last drop, he dropped his hands back into the water, letting the stream part around his hands and run through his fingers. It was relaxing.

He waited a while for the sun to set slightly, before following the stream to its source, a small spring at the top of a hill. Grinning wide, he settled down for the night at a flatter area nearby, grabbing a few twigs and attempting to make a fire before giving up and simply piling up the leaves as a pillow.

All in all, not too shabby. As he closed his eyes, Jaebum decided food and shelter could wait for tomorrow. How hard could it be?

 

~

  
The next day, Jinyoung woke to the crunching of leaves outside. Suddenly alert, he slipped his knife out of its sheath and crept out into the clearing, only to groan as two squirrels raced back up their trees, leaving the half eaten berries he had gathered yesterday on top of his shirt.

They had untied the knot he left. “Berry-stealing thieves,” Jinyoung hissed, picking the berries off and roughly shaking out his shirt. It didn’t look like he would be putting it back on anytime soon.

Glancing up at the sun’s position in the sky, Jinyoung gazed mournfully at his teepee and grabbed a handful of leaves off of the nearest branch. It wouldn’t do him any good to get lost and not be able to find his way back.

Leaving a leaf behind him every few steps, Jinyoung stopped at several bushes to check their berries and attempted to pull down certain branches to check if the leaves were edible. By noon, his rucksack was full again, and he almost contemplated trying to move the fallen tree that he wanted for his plan to get off the island. But considering his lack of foresight the night before, he eventually decided to get started on making traps for live animals. Hopefully, it would be more sustainable than eating leaves.

 

~

 

Jaebum woke up much earlier, when the sun hadn’t even risen past the horizon. He woke up shivering with a leaf somehow halfway in his mouth.

“Phht!” He spat it out quickly, jumping to his feet and slapping at the bug or two on his right leg. It was cold. It was really cold, was his first thought. Wrapping his arms around his torso, he fumbled in the half-lit clearing with the twigs, again failing to start a fire. Frustrated, Jaebum tried running in place to get his body temperature up, but only succeeded in stepping on another stick or stone. Looking around, he thought for two seconds about how water changes temperature less easily before giving up and just plunging a leg into the spring.

It wasn’t much better. Shivering as he sat with his legs in the water, Jaebum waited impatiently for the sun to rise. It was dark, cold, and he was now hungry as well. He didn’t want to admit that Jinyoung had been right, but he would need to find something and soon.

For the time being, he contemplated the nutritional value of insects and tried again to make a fire. Again, it didn’t work.

 

~

 

“Fuck!” Jinyoung winced at the sharp pain in his palm. If Jaebum’s day had started off poorly, Jinyoung’s only got worse. Sure, he had some berries now, but this was the third splinter he had gotten from trying to collect more wood.

Wincing, he pulled it out, and gingerly avoided touching anything with his palm. His right hand was slightly inflamed where the splinters had broken skin and he knew that could turn into an infection if he wasn’t careful.

“Goddamnit.” Jinyoung groaned as he dumped the branches in front of his teepee. For some reason, he hadn’t been able to find the water source from before. With his already diminishing water supply, that wouldn’t bode well at all. “If only I hadn’t-”

Crack. Jinyoung spun around, his knife drawn in front of him. The clearing was empty, save for a bird or two nesting high above out of Jinyoung’s reach. Yet, he could have sworn he heard footsteps, rapidly receding.

Was it Jaebum? It hadn’t seemed like it, but who else could it be? Grimacing, Jinyoung got back to work breaking the branches into twigs and other manageable parts. It would have been easier if he had been working with Jaebum. The other man was stronger and could probably break the wood without having to dull his sword cutting it-

“Shut up.” Jinyoung said to himself, breaking off another branch with a snap and refusing to imagine Jaebum helping him carry wood. The man would probably ask for a point per branch carried.

He remembered almost giving up on their whole points game and asking Jaebum for help once. It somewhere around seventh grade, when the teacher had chosen Jinyoung for some special project or the other, not knowing that he was busy worrying about his grandmother’s health after school. He had considered all the other choices: taking on the project would be too time consuming, and just refusing to take the position would not reflect well on him in the future. So, that left him with one alternative. Ask Jaebum to take over the project for him.

He hated the prospect, but somehow, he got the feeling that even though they were archenemies, Jaebum would help him.

And he almost asked. Jinyoung had bottled up his pride, practiced saying the word “please” in the mirror, and walked up to Jaebum after school. He knew their little game might have ended there, with Jaebum the victor. 

But before he could even say a word, Jaebum had laughed and asked, “Are you here to brag about the special project? ‘Cuz I’m the leader now, teacher’s decisions. I guess I’m in the lead now, huh?”

Without anything special, everything had gone back to normal. And Jaebum had been ahead by a point for a month after that.

No, Jinyoung refused to imagine Jaebum holding up the other side of the felled tree or offering to cut the wood for him. Hand stinging, he got back to work.

 

~

 

Around sunrise, when Jaebum had unhappily made his way down the hill back to the beach he had woken up on, he felt a new appreciation for the warmth of sunlight, closing his eyes and lying down in the sand as he basked in it.

He also had a newfound appreciation for Jinyoung. Even though their points were almost always tied, it was true that Jinyoung tended to do better in theoretical classwork while Jaebum excelled in impromptu decision making in the field. 

When they had first ended up on the same ship together, it had always been Jinyoung calculating headings and Jaebum refusing to agree until he calculated the same heading through his much slower methods. Yet, when the situation turned dire and they were headed to a fight with another pirate ship, they had somehow worked together for once.

Jinyoung, clearly calling from his stored technical knowledge, was able to decide exactly how to engage the other ship. He had calculated out how many degrees to turn, which cannonballs to load, what weapons to use, and more, all from the helm. It had been up to Jaebum to tie the ropes, call out the orders, and muster their crew and invigorate them to attack. And he had lead them, eyes set on the incoming ship, into the fight with swords drawn and emerged victorious. Jinyoung had watched from the helm, and afterwards, made the decisions on how to deal with the other pirates and what to keep of value from their ship.

Here, on entirely foreign terrain, he knew Jinyoung would at least have some concept of what he could and couldn’t eat and how to catch dinner. As for him, Jaebum only hoped that fish would be close enough to the shore for him to spear with his sword.

They were, thank whichever deity had blessed him. But it wasn’t sustainable.

He found himself wondering about what it would be like to return to the spring and find Jinyoung waiting with the game caught in whatever traps he had devised. It would probably entail disagreements over how to cook the game and Jinyoung repeatedly bringing up the question of how they would get off the island.

The man would probably ask for a point per meal-

Caw! Caw! Several birds flew from their treetop nests in one of the hills. If he listened hard enough, Jaebum could make out someone yelling something similar to “Why?!”

He furrowed his brows. It didn’t sound like Jinyoung, but who else could it be?

Taking a breath, he yelled back, “Jinyoung!” But there was no response. Trust Jinyoung to fake distress and cause Jaebum to make a fool of himself.

Swearing to forget about the other man for the rest of the day, Jaebum gritted his teeth and drew his sword, wading deeper into the water.

 

~

 

By the time night had set, Jinyoung had succeeded in getting another two splinters and making one fully functional trap. Exhausted, he was careful to wrap his hand in some cloth as he laid down in his teepee, gazing through the hole at the top at the moon.

It was a full moon. That meant it would be a waning gibbous moon next; Jaebum didn’t know that.

Jinyoung frowned as the man came to mind again. He hadn’t seen the other captain since the incident in the middle of the day, and, he convinced himself, that was a good thing. Jaebum probably left because he was jealous that Jinyoung was doing so well. Yeah, that was definitely it, suits him right, that- 

His eyelids fluttered shut and Jinyoung drifted off to sleep, Jaebum’s name at the tip of his tongue.

 

~

 

Jaebum was also looking up at the moon. 

The waves were lapping at the soles of his feet, and he had long given up hope of being warm when he woke up. Might as well stay on the beach so he wouldn’t have to walk back and forth between the spring and the sea.

His catch of the day roasted over a flickering flame for a total of two seconds, Jaebum had uncomfortably eaten the fish semi-raw as dinner. Tired and regretting his life decisions, his mind had somehow gone back to when he and Jinyoung had attended the same school.

There was one particular incident that stood out to him. In seventh, their teacher had chosen Jinyoung to lead some special project or the other. Jaebum had been furious for a while that the other was beating him in points, but the day after, he noticed that Jinyoung didn’t look too happy about the position. At first, he had seen this as condescending, and his temper had only grown, but then he overheard something after school.

“Park Jinyoung? The super smart kid?”

“Yeah, I heard he has to go visit his grandma after school every day. She’s sick or something. Isn’t that sad? Like-”

Jaebum had punched the wall next to the guy’s face. “Shut up and scram,  _ now _ .”

He didn’t know why he did it. As Jinyoung’s archnemesis, maybe it was because only he could be above Jinyoung.

Either way, when Jinyoung walked up to him with his eyes lowered, Jaebum had felt a similar flame roaring inside of his stomach. He knew the other meant to concede. And on the spot, Jaebum had lied, falsely stating that the role had gone to him instead.

Sure, it meant the point wasn’t really his, but seeing Jinyoung walk away with his chin up as normal, Jaebum didn’t really care. Maybe it was because the game entertained him. Maybe it was because he wanted to win through his own efforts. Regardless, he had gone to their teacher afterwards and asked her for the role. After that, everything went back to normal.

Just sometimes, his mind would wander back to the memory, poking his brain and asking him overly intrusive questions. At times like these, Jaebum simply told the memory to go away, and that’s what he did, forcing himself to stare up at the moon.

It was a beautiful full moon, white and glistening, reflecting in the silver caps of the waves as they rolled in to the beach. Closing his eyes, Jaebum wondered for a second if Jinyoung was looking at the moon, too.


	5. A Stranger

They continued on their own for a few days, each with their own water and food sources, Jaebum suffering through cold nights and Jinyoung repeatedly checking his hand for any signs of infection. On the fifth day, they finally crossed paths.

Having had a successful morning at the shore, Jaebum carried his game with him, speared on his sword, as he re-entered the forest area, trying to explore more of the island. On his way through an especially dense part, he heard someone call his name. 

“Jinyoung?” He tightened his grip on his sword, only to realize that having several fish stabbed on top was not very conducive to fighting.

But Jinyoung pushed his way past a branch in front of Jaebum, no sword drawn. “Yeah, what are you doing here? Bored of your half of the island already?”

Jaebum jerked his chin at the fish on his sword. “Hardly. Are you?”

“As if.” Jinyoung scoffed and motioned for Jaebum to follow him. As they walked, Jaebum noticed that Jinyoung had ditched the shirt entirely, even as a rucksack bag, and had wrapped his hand in what seemed like cut off fabric. An injury?

But before he could ask, they broke out of the forest into a small clearing. Jaebum suddenly understood where the injury might’ve come from. In the middle of the clearing, a small teepee stood up by itself, some edges to the wood clearly hacked off with a sword. In front of it, there were piles of wood differentiated by size and type. Pine, large. Pine, small. On one of the birch piles, there was a half-finished trap and the remnants of some game. Clearly, Jinyoung knew more about making fires than Jaebum.

“So what do you think? How many points?” Jinyoung laughed but Jaebum didn’t.

“Maybe one for the teepee.”

“That’s frugal.”

“Minus one for the injury. You know that can get infected, right?”

Jinyoung was frowning now, too, his arms crossed over his chest. “And raw fish isn’t safe either. But you eat it.”

“Whatever. Score’s still tied.”

Jaebum turned around, his free hand clenched in a fist. Jinyoung called after him, “I’m up by one point!”

“I said whatever!” Jaebum yelled back, stalking back toward the beach. Each step he took was forceful and he could hear his heartbeat pulsing in his chest. Just seeing everything in the clearing and thinking about his own progress- Jaebum gritted his teeth. He hadn’t meant to yell, but it’d come out.

Groaning, he slapped a hand over his eyes and almost ran into a rock. “Fuck.” Kicking at the rock unhelpfully, Jaebum was about to turn away when he noticed something unusual.

There was writing on the rock. Not writing as in English words per say, but clear tally marks scratched in stone. From a cursory glance, the number was over fifty.

Jaebum’s heartbeat quickened. He obviously hadn’t kept tallies. And he knew Jinyoung well enough to know the man would do his tallying in his head, not on some rock. Carefully slipping the fish off his sword and onto the ground, Jaebum rounded the rock slowly.

He had heard someone yell “Why?!” several days ago and assumed it was Jinyoung. But what if there was someone else on the island? Sword drawn, he swept the area from left to right, then up and down. No one was behind the rock either, perhaps they had-

A creak.

Jaebum spun around, just in time to block a machete swinging down toward him. The swing was weak, that was Jaebum’s first observation. The man swinging the machete was dirty and rugged-looking, probably stranded on the island for fifty days prior at least, that was Jaebum’s second observation.

“Who are you? What are you doing here? Are you here to kill me, huh?” 

“No, I’m-”

The man jutted his face forward and Jaebum instinctively stepped back. “Did  _ they _ send you?”

“Who’s they?” But the man wasn’t listening. His eyes were glazed over and he was panting. Probably a bit crazy, that was Jaebum’s third observation.

And currently running away. Jaebum let out a sigh of relief, lowering his sword until he realized who the man was running toward.

Jinyoung.

Without even knowing it, Jaebum started sprinting after him. Ignoring the sharp jabs at his feet as he ran, he jumped over small mounds and ducked under low-hanging branches. The man was still in sight but nowhere near close to slowing down.

“Hey, you! Come back here!”

The man only looked behind him, yelped, and ran faster. Straight toward Jinyoung’s clearing.

 

~

 

In the clearing, Jinyoung had no clue two people were sprinting toward him. He had been upset by Jaebum’s comments, and not just because the man had refused to give him the extra points. No, it was something else, and Jinyoung didn’t like it.

So, he refused to think about it. Refused to think about why he wanted Jaebum to approve of the teepee. Instead, he reminded himself that Jaebum was his archnemesis. It’d been pretty much set in stone since the first time had met, with the whole candy incident and-

“Come back here!”

Jinyoung’s eyes widened. That was Jaebum’s voice, and it didn’t sound like he was addressing Jinyoung. No, he sounded like he was running.

Quickly scanning around him, Jinyoung drew his knife and slipped behind a tree.

 

~

 

They were almost at the clearing. Throwing his strength into his legs, Jaebum sped up even more.

“Only I-”

He tucked his head down.

“Am allowed to-”

And he launched himself forward.

“Beat Jinyoung!”

He tackled the man to the ground in the middle of the clearing, quickly straddling him and grabbing the machete out of his hands. The man beneath him tried to buck up and Jaebum tossed the machete to the side for good measure. Hands grasping for the other man’s arms to lock them behind his back, Jaebum yelped when the man bit down on his finger. In the split second that Jaebum pulled back, the man grabbed one of the branches in front of him and swung at Jaebum.

And again, Jaebum felt himself falling to the ground. In his last moments before he passed out, he saw a sideways Jinyoung tripping the man and succeeding in restraining him. His last thought before everything faded to black was: “Goddamnit, I lost again.”


	6. I Don't Hate You

As Jaebum slowly came to, he could vaguely make out some wood above him and something hard underneath him. From time to time, some blurry face took up most of his vision, pulling in closer before leaving again. His head hurt again. The painful ringing was back.

Groaning, Jaebum tried to flip onto his side, but the ringing only got worse. He squeezed his eyes shut and willed it go away. Suddenly, there was a hand cupped around the back of his head and he was being pulled to a sitting position.

“Here, drink.”

Something cool was pressed against his lips. Jaebum opened his eyes. He was sitting on the ground in Jinyoung’s teepee and water was being offered to him on a leaf. He accepted it.

After a while, Jaebum handed the leaf back and Jinyoung stowed it away somewhere silently. “How long was I out?”

“Less than a day. I tied up the guy to some tree, but he kept talking about how I was going to kill him and how I was sent by some mysterious ‘them.’”

Jaebum nodded, “He’s crazy.”

“Yeah.”

They sat in silence as birds chirped outside and squirrels munched on berries Jinyoung had left outside. Inside, Jaebum was confused. He wanted to thank Jinyoung for saving him and ask why, but it came out all wrong.

“So I guess this is another point for you, huh?”

The other man narrowed his eyes. “Are you implying that I only saved you for some arbitrary number?”

Jaebum frowned, “It’s not arbitrary. And we agreed to stay on our sides of the island. You should have just left me there.” Well maybe not just left him there but-

“With how ungrateful you’re being, maybe you’re right.” Jinyoung glared at him, “Maybe I should have.”

“I technically saved you too,” retorted Jaebum.

“From him? You got yourself knocked out.” Jinyoung scoffed.

“Well, you forcefully gave me water. That doesn’t count as saving me, so it’s still even.” Even Jaebum could hear the nonsense in his own words, but the conversation had gone beyond his control. He could feel a familiar warmth climbing up his neck and toward his face.

The glint in Jinyoung’s eyes hardened. “Would you have rather I didn’t?”

He shrugged, “Maybe you poisoned me. If I die, you’re captain.”

“Are you actually serious? You think the captainship is more important than your life?”

“Well, you hate me, don’t you?” Jaebum wished he could take back the words the second they left his mouth. Jinyoung looked like Jaebum had stabbed him through the chest. His usually calm and collected expression was twisted with hurt and he had flinched backwards at the words.

They sat in the heavy silence for a few seconds as Jaebum tried to form an apology, his mind easily coming up with over ten but his mouth butchering all of them. He tried to plead with Jinyoung through his gaze but the man got up stiffly and spat out, “I don’t hate you.”

Then, he ran out of the teepee.

 

~

 

Jinyoung stopped running when he got to the spring. For some reason, he just knew this was where Jaebum had been camping out the first few days, and he couldn’t tell if that calmed him down or made him more angry. Settling down by the spring, he dipped one leg into the water, then the other.

It was cool and relaxing. He could close his eyes and pretend that he was back on the ship, back arguing with Jaebum, just as long as he was still in control. But he knew it was out of his hands now. He had blown up, because in truth, he didn’t save Jaebum for some arbitrary counting system. He saved Jaebum because it was Jaebum.

The same Jaebum that he saw every day of school. The one he competed with. The one he argued with. The one he’d been chasing since they first met, and the one he had chased onto a pirate ship and then an island in the middle of nowhere.

He had looked up to Jaebum even after they started their whole tally of who was better. While Jinyoung could solve complicated navigational problems with ease, when it came to practical application and handling a crew, Jaebum excelled. And Jaebum had to have known this.

They’d participated in the same things since they entered school, and if anyone asked who knew Jinyoung best, it would have to be Jaebum even if neither of them admitted it. And even on this island with no one else to care about which of them was superior, Jaebum still insisted on the old score system.

Jinyoung hated it. He hated the possibility that Jaebum could think that Jinyoung hated him. If he knew Jinyoung so well, couldn’t he tell otherwise?

 

~

 

Jaebum knew he was wrong. After a minute, he had gotten up woozily, and walked after Jinyoung, stumbling here and there, all the way back to the spring.

When he got there, the man was sitting with his legs in the water, kicking up small ripples. He sat down next to him.

“I’m sorry.”

For once, the words came out correctly.

“I’m sorry I said that and I didn’t mean it. Thank you for saving me.”

The silence hung over them like an unwanted friend -hard to tell to go away. But Jaebum could only wait, so he sat there, watching Jinyoung’s face for any hints to his feelings, until the man finally spoke.

“You’re welcome.”

Jaebum nodded. Jinyoung didn’t accept his apology, but that was expected; it would take some time to fix his blunder. “Let’s stop with the score. We can get off the island if we build a raft. Do you still have the man’s machete? We can use it to chop wood instead of our swords.”

“The vines can work as twine. My shirt is available as a sail, but we can also use leaves or animal hides.”

“Animal hides is probably a better idea. Do you have traps laid out?”

“Yes, can you get the vines?”

“Yes.” 

 

~

 

They spent the next few days together. Jaebum speared fish for meals and Jinyoung provided the fire. While Jaebum tied together vines, Jinyoung checked his traps and stitched together different animal hides. There were birds of one kind, birds of another kind, rabbits, and more.

But the most important task was the wood. They carried felled tree trunks back to the beach together, and Jaebum worked entire afternoons on cutting the wood into usable sizes with the machete. Sometimes, it didn’t turn out as planned.

For the second trunk, while Jaebum was hacking away at the wood, a large piece had splintered off and jabbed through his pants to his leg. His grip had tightened around the machete handle and he had clenched his jaw, feeling the familiar rush of blood- until he looked over at Jinyoung, who was watching him work while stitching the sails.

Jinyoung only had to look at him and tilt his head in question, as if to ask “What’s wrong?” and the anger would dissipate as soon as it had come. By the tenth log, Jaebum only gritted his teeth for a second before reminding himself of his new mantra, “survival first,” and continuing on, splinter or no splinter.

They worked better together. By themselves, Jinyoung wouldn’t have been able to split the wood and Jaebum wouldn’t have created any sails. But working together, they were ready to set sail by the end of the week.

The night before their planned departure date, Jaebum and Jinyoung were lying in the teepee together, gazing up at the moon. They hadn’t talked about their fight since it had happened.

But looking up at the crescent of the moon, Jaebum was reminded of his memory from those so many nights ago. They would be back among their crew soon after they set sail, and if there was anything he wanted to say to Jinyoung privately before that, the time was now.

Jaebum cleared his throat awkwardly, “Just to clear things up, I don’t hate you either.”

“Neither do I, hate myself that is.” Jinyoung grinned slightly and Jaebum rolled his eyes.

“I just- ever since we first met. I really didn’t mean to make you cry. It’s just in that moment, I really thought it would be a good idea to take your candy. And I really wanted to apologize after that, but I just never knew how.” Jaebum sighed at the memory, and folded his hands behind his head. “I sent a few letters to you, did you ever get them?”

Jinyoung flipped onto his side, so that he was facing Jaebum. “I did. I thought you were forced to write them though.”

“I wasn’t.” Jaebum also rolled over onto his other side. “I really did mean it, it’s just most of what I say doesn’t come out the way I want it to. Like the sword fight? You did win, but I was too-” He took a deep breath. “I was too prideful to admit it. I felt like I was always losing to you and just you. And that special position in seventh? I lied about being chosen for it. I actually heard about your scenario so I asked our teacher to give the position to me instead.” Jinyoung must have looked shocked because Jaebum apologized again, “I’m sorry I never told you.”

Jinyoung stared at Jaebum for a while, as if wondering if every he had said could possibly be true. “You know,” he cleared his throat, too, “it’s okay. I never told you how I felt either.” He continued, “You know I’m petty. I cried for a week over the candy. And you know I’m competitive. But you don’t know that I’m only this competitive, because I look up to you and I feel like I’ve always been chasing your shadow. Even the first time we met, I felt like I wanted to get you to like me, because I admire you. You’re outstanding when put on the spot.”

“I am?” Jaebum stared at him incredulously and Jinyoung nodded.

“You are. I didn’t want to lose to you, but if it came down to it, I would agree that the captain should be-”” 

“Both of us,” Jaebum finished the sentence for him. “We’ll be co-captains.”

Jinyoung looked at him for a while, searching his face before turning back to the moon and the stars. It had gotten colder and somehow they had migrated within an inch of each other, shifting closer to the other’s warmth. “Are you sure? Co-captains?”

Jaebum moved over, closing the distance between them. “Yes, I’m sure.”


	7. Co-captains

The next morning, Jaebum woke up first with the sunrise, groggily untangling his limbs from Jinyoung’s. Quickly shaking the other man awake, he gathered up their food and water in whatever rucksack bags and leaves they had and trekked down the hill one last time to the beach.

With the sun barely peaking over the horizon, soft golds and reds filtered over them and lighted upon their raft. Made from several felled trees, vines, animal hides, and a lot of cooperation and hard work, it swayed slightly in the breeze.

Quickly stashing their stuff on board, Jaebum helped Jinyoung up first before haphazardly climbing on himself. Finally, he took out the shoddily crafted oars and passed one to Jinyoung. One, two, one, two, one, two…

Slowly but surely, the island grew smaller and smaller behind them. They paddles in unison, neither side going too fast and neither side lagging behind. It was a calming rhythm similar to that of the waves, and as the moved along the calm water, a familiar ship soon came into view on the horizon.

It was anchored and waiting for them. By the time they had paddled next to its hull, Jackson had let down the ropes and Yugyeom and Bambam had helped pull both of them up. Mark was the first to greet them, “Took you long enough.”

“You should have hurried up. I lost five silver pieces,” complained Bambam. 

“What about me?” Jackson whined as Youngjae and Yugyeom simply shrugged. They had bet on how long it would take the two to get off the island. Jinyoung was unsurprised that Bambam lost. 

“So who’s captain?” Mark asked. “There’s still the issue of rations to sort out.”

“We’re both captains.” Jaebum said.

Jinyoung nodded approvingly, “Co-captains.”

The crew simply stared at them. Eventually, Bambam walked up to tap each of them on the head to check for fever. “Are you two okay? Did you get malaria? You haven’t agreed on the color of our ship let alone who should be captain since Yugyeom and I joined. Do we need to check for something else? Is it the flu? Did you-”

“We’re fine.” Jinyoung explained, a slight smile on his face, his eyes creasing at the corners, “We agreed, co-captains.”

Jackson was still staring at them blankly. Jaebum sighed and brought his hand to his sword. “Anyone who disagrees, would you like to spend two weeks on that island? ‘Cuz we’ll go right now if you do.”

Everyone shook their heads no. The smile had returned to Mark’s eyes and Youngjae seemed significantly less troubled. Yugyeom, Bambam, and Jackson still seemed confused, but it would make sense later. Oh, the stories they could tell…

Jinyoung repositioned the captain’s hat on his head. “If that’s all settled, Youngjae, hoist the anchors. We’re finally moving again.”

“Aye, aye, cap’n! Onto it!”

The sun was well up into the sky, and the familiar contrast between wood and water filled Jinyoung’s view. It looked almost no different than before they had gone to the island, but both he and Jaebum knew it would never be the same. As the crew started to split up, Mark stayed behind, a knowing look in his eyes. “Just curious. What’s the score now?”

Jaebum and Jinyoung looked at each other and smiled secretively. 

“There is no score.”


End file.
